Sen. Herman Quirmbach won the state Senate race for District 23 with a majority of 59.5 percent to Jeremy Davis’ 40.3 percent.

Jeremy Davis said he would like to congratulate Quirmbach, and hopes that he will take to heart a lot of the comments and concerns of the folks here in Story County and the Senate District going forward.

The race for the 23rd District seat in the Iowa Senate has centered on higher education issues.

Quirmbach and Davis both believe in supporting higher education.

Iowans have great opportunities for higher education, but that he would support initiatives from the Board of Regents that fund public higher education Davis said. In addition, Davis believed school districts should have the opportunity to make decisions that affect them locally.

Quirmbach is head of the Education Committee in the Senate and supported bills that would provide more funding for the regent universities from the state budget in order to prevent tuition raises for in-state students. Quirmbach also said that he would fight for a third tuition freeze.

Encouraging small business owners and main street business owners is an economic priority for Davis. He also wanted to encourage industries and business to relocate to the state, which would create jobs for the young professionals in Iowa.

Quirmbach’s top economic priority is to create a stable middle class. He would like the Senate to continue to support initiatives that fund small business development centers and expand cultural projects.

Quirmbach has served in the Senate since 2003. Before that, he served as Ames city councilman from 1995 to 2003. Quirmbach is also an associate professor of economics at Iowa State.

The first goal that Quirmbach hopes to achieve is a third year of tuition freeze for Iowa students. 

“I’m beginning to get optimistic. We will have to increase the budget from the state in order to be able to make that possible, just as we’ve done the last two years,” Quirmbach said. “But our budget’s in pretty good shape so I think that we can afford that. Certainly it would be very helpful to all of the students at Iowa State, UNI and University of Iowa.” 

In the past, Davis has served on the Ames City Council, but he made no commitments to run for a particular political office at this time.

Regarding plans for the future and how he feels about the outcome of the race, Davis said he wants to continue to fight for Iowans.

 “[I’m] obviously disappointed, but still looking forward to the future and looking forward to continuing to serve the people of our state in whatever way possible,” Davis said. 

Quirmbach had only good things to say about Davis and his ability to run for the spot in the State House. 

“I’d like to congratulate him on running. It takes a certain amount of guts to put your name on the ballot, stand up for the public and state your case. He did that,” Quirmbach said.